Afterlife
by RegulusBlackIsAHero
Summary: Regulus Black was killed by the inferi in 1979. When he awakes, he remembers nothing of his past and is haunted by a memory that he can barely recall. His afterlife, his musings, and his release. Rated T for swearing! For the magic competition by l0stinl0ve! This is for imperio!
1. Memories

A memory is burnt in me. I can't help but think about it. It consumes even the simple thoughts my dead brain can think these days. I can't remember much about it.

_Burning liquid… Water… Clammy hands…_ There are no noises to these feelings, but there are voices. One I seem to recognize as my own. I'm not sure how; I haven't spoken since the change. However, I'm sure of it.

I'm begging, _pleading _for something that isn't in my memory. _Did it ever really exist?_

There's another voice. Hoarse, croaking… I can tell that they're worried for me. Also, a feeling of… trust and friendship rises up in me. I don't know why; I do not remember.

And there's a third voice. I can't hear it well, but it seems to waver. It's quiet; though I can tell they're screaming… I can hardly hear it, but it's there. A lot of the voice's words are jumbled together, cryptic. The voice sounds angry. _Was it at me?_ Did I do something? I wished to remember more but…

The few words I could hear were not encouraging. Profanities… Insults… There was a strange term mixed in with them. Death eater. _Death Eater?_ It made no sense, but whenever I thought the term, a fleeting feeling of fear and anger and betrayal all mixed together and about as clear as mud ran through me.

If I strained my memory for hours, I could remember a feeling of intense fear and a burning inside of me. The first time I achieved this, I had been glad for my inability to move. If I could have, I would have cried out in shock and pain. Yet, as an enchanted dead body, I didn't have to worry about that.

The logical part of my brain could tell me that the others had dragged me under. What else could the feeling of water have been? How else would I have gotten down here? They killed me. _Why?_

I wanted to remember. The others… I could never tell if they were capable of clear thought or not. Were they lost forever? If they were, I think I have the worse misery to bear. To remember feelings and senses like the tight grip of clammy, cold hands, to feel a sudden pain as if it was a memory… It was torture.

I knew I was dead. It was obvious. When I saved enough energy, a feat which had taken years for me to accomplish, I twitched an eyelid. In that one moment that I could see my surroundings… My body was laid out before me, naked, bare. My skin pallid and pasty, my arms… I was disintegrating in the water, and I was fading quickly. My cross to bear is to watch and feel as my body decomposes… It's a torture beyond all others.

What had happened to the days where death was something that set you free? No matter what was happening in my life, I know that it would be better than this half-life, this cursed-life. Enough of my soul is trapped in my enchanted body. _I am not alive. _

The best way to put would be to say that a cage has trapped my soul, and my body is the walls of it. I've tried, _oh_ _yes_; I've tried to push through the barriers. The first time I tried it, the pain had made my uncontrollable body twitch. That exhausted my energy enough for me to be unable to try again.

I suppose it's a cruel irony. My body has trapped me. My physical life holds me here. I begin to think of the memories my alive - self had as another person's. Surely, no one could be brave enough to die and to know that they'd have this cursed reality.

I can tell that I was young. However, I'm not sure how I know. It's a… _feeling_… I suppose. Maybe the still heart inside of me is fresh, and I can sense it.

I am an inferi, and this is my life – no, not life. I am not alive, but I am trapped. _Help._


	2. Release

It's been years, and I'm still stuck here. It feels like centuries that I have strived to remember more of my life. I've made little progress. The third voice I can now distinctly tell is male. Though, I still recognize only a few precious words.

I've accustomed myself to the fact that I will never escape. Perhaps, while alive, I was a terrible person. _Who knows?_ Maybe karma was out to get me or maybe the Fates just hated me. Whoever decided it certainly screwed my afterlife up. _Do they enjoy fucking with me? _

Suddenly, a sound blares through the normally silent, soupy water. At once, my limbs jerk into action. All thought fades from my head quickly; it is replaced by cold instinct.

Someone had touched our water. That was punishable by death. I can sense a thought in the others heads.

_A new one will be joining us!_

They are celebrating_. Have they gone insane, _I wonder? Had they been under the water and trapped in their bodies for so long that they lost all rationality. Did they truly wish this on another? As I rise to the surface, a clear memory blocks my sight.

_I'm standing on rocks, my feet aching slightly. My body is wobbly, as if I am not accustomed to standing on land. Perhaps the sea scares me as it crashes against the rocks? There is a basin, and I feel a cold force dragging me towards it. I want to turn around; I want to leave. Something inside me – pride, perhaps – doesn't allow me. There is something standing near me. I can hear that voice, the throaty one. Kreacher. The name blares through my thoughts. He is begging with me, pleading to get me to leave. I can tell he's terrified. Can he sense the inferi waiting for him? Could he feel the dank_, _bitter hands that no doubt wished to latch onto him? _

_I step towards the basin and pick up a goblet. Fear in me, my heart twanging pitifully, I dip it in and bring it to my thin lips. I take a deep breath, preparing for unimaginable pain. Then I drink. _

_Pain. It consumes my thoughts, my actions. I can hardly feel myself crumple to the ground. Hysterical, I beg, plead. The third voice comes, along with a vision. A man that looks much like I do stands before me._

_"You're a fool, brother!" he snarls. "You damn death eater! How dare you join them! You've betrayed me! And for what! It's been two years, Reggie, and now you're going to die. I know you think this will fix everything; you think that this will make up for the innocents you have killed. It won't! Nothing will! You're dying for nothing, Reg! _

_No one will know why you died! Mother will only hear of your betrayal! I wonder if she'll burn your arse off the tree! We can be burnt spots together, Reggie! _

_You can't change anything, you damn fool. Are you ready to die, Reg? I hope so, and I hope you realize that I'll never forgive you for what you did!"_

_I draw in a deep, gasping breath at his words. Then I begin to choke. Opening my eyes, I realize that my alive self was under the water. The hands were pulling at him, forcing him under... Then it faded._

My vision cleared, and I found myself standing before a kid. A _kid!_ What was he doing here? He looked to only be around sixteen. I had been only two years older. He was fighting hard; it was clear that he hadn't drunk the potion. _Who did?_ Were they already under the water? To my horror, my own hand clutched the boy's arm. _No… No!_ I struggled with myself, but I had no control over my body. It was the damn curse.

To my revulsion and dismay, the boy lost his footing in my arms. He stumbled, falling into the water. I could see his eyes widen in panic as my arms forced their way around his neck. _No!_ I tried to pull upward, but strength was rapidly leaving my body. My arms felt like stone. All that energy I had been saving up for years was gone.

Then, suddenly, there was light. It was too bright, garish. In truth, it felt like death. It touched me, and I was flung from the boy. The light didn't leave me, and it burnt like hell.

For a moment, everything went black.

When I awoke, I could remember.

My name is Regulus Black, and I died to save innocent lives. Standing for the first time in over a decade, I turned around unsteadily. The man, the third voice, was standing before me. Looking at him, I breathed,

_"Sirius."_

**This is for the magic competition! It is for Imperio!**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!**_


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